From the days that Arthur Pitney was issued U.S. Pat. No. 710,997 and subsequently developed the postage meter, it has been the standard for the dispensing of postage in a secure fashion. The postage meter has represented a secure device whereby the user thereof can purchase postage value and the postal service has assurance that payment has been made for any postage dispensed. Throughout the decades, the postage meter has performed well, but with the advent of dot matrix printers and the need for high speed, high volume operations, need has been expressed for more flexible postage dispensing devices. Such need has been expressed in terms of seeking a device that will provide security without the cost associated with the manufacturing and present periodic inspection of a postage meter.
The primary components of a postage meter are: at least one register for determining the amount of postage value purchased by a user, a printer for printing a postage indicia, a data input unit, and a control mechanism. These units are contained within a secure housing and are often provided with seals. To further secure the postage dispensing activities of postage meters, inspections of such meters are conducted periodically to assure that the meter is functioning properly and no tampering has occurred with the meter.
Recently, schemes have been suggested for using an unsecured printer as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,855,920 and 4,962,454. Even though these suggested uses of an unsecured printer were advantageous, they still required a secure device for the accounting. Clearly, it would be advantageous to be able to have a postage dispensing apparatus wherein the amount of physical security provided for the apparatus is reduced substantially and the cost thereof is reduced accordingly. It also would be advantageous to be able to provide a convenient and inexpensive manner of inspecting a postage dispensing device to assure that postage is dispensed in an authorized manner.